Brian May leads thousands on anti-badger culling march

Brian May led thousands on a march through London yesterday (June 1) to protest the UK Government's planned badger cull.

The guitarist opposes the culling of badgers, which authorities say is necessary to combat bovine tuberculosis (TB), and submitted a petition with 234,000 signatures to Downing Street demanding the scheme be axed.

Speaking at the demonstration, organised for the day before culling is due to start in west Gloucestershire and West Somerset, Brian May told reporters: "If the Government don't listen to us today the pressure will still be there.

Brian May led thousands on a march through London yesterday (June 1) to protest the UK Government’s planned badger cull.

The guitarist opposes the culling of badgers, which authorities say is necessary to combat bovine tuberculosis (TB), and submitted a petition with 234,000 signatures to Downing Street demanding the scheme be axed.

Speaking at the demonstration, organised for the day before culling is due to start in west Gloucestershire and West Somerset, Brian May told reporters: “If the Government don’t listen to us today the pressure will still be there.

“I think it would be easier for David Cameron to cancel it at this point, with some grace and clearly for the public good. I don’t think there would be any shame in cancelling the policy because new evidence has come to light. It’s not going to save money. I’m not the person who cares about money, I care about everything else.”

He added: “There is no scientific justification for it, there is no public backing for it, there’s no moral grounds – but if it’s not going to save the public money either then surely the foundations for this cull will disappear.”

If the pilots launched today are successful then badger culling is expected to be rolled out across other TB hotspot areas. The Government say the culling is necessary to prevent increased outbreaks of the disease among dairy and beef cattle.

Last month, Brian May announced plans to release “The Badger Song” in protest of the planned cull. Scroll down to hear a preview of the song and hear May speaking about the project now.

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